Transfer a Veterinary License to Maine
They honor your license, and the exam isn't enforced
A no-exam state hiding behind exam-era paperwork. The board formally announced it is not enforcing its own law-exam rule, replaced by a read-the-laws checkbox, so the whole burden is one application, transcripts, an any-age exam score, and $96, the second-cheapest entry in the country. No fingerprints (a $21 name-based records check runs off your application), no interview, no travel, and Maine even lets you submit license verifications yourself as portal printouts. The license arrives as a PDF by email.
What carries over to Maine, and what does not
Comes with you
- Your NAVLE, NBE+CCT, or even NBE alone, any age (via AAVSB)
- Your degree (AVMA; ECFVG or PAVE accepted)
- License verifications YOU may submit as portal printouts
New for this state
- A read-the-laws attestation checkbox (the exam isn't enforced)
- $21 name-based records check (no fingerprints)
- Transcripts direct from your school
Working in Maine without a Maine license
Your send-off checklist
Where documents go. Apply online (board 4120) or mail to 35 State House Station, Augusta, ME 04333. Third parties direct: AAVSB (scores) and your school (transcripts); license verifications may travel WITH your file as portal printouts, a Maine oddity.
The money
| License fee | $75 |
|---|---|
| Criminal records check (name-based) | $21 |
| Score transfer (VAULT) | $105 |
| VER | |
| TOTAL First year, typical | ~$215 |
| Then: renewal every year | $75 |
Watch out in Maine
- Check the RIGHT box: the 'endorsement' lane demands 3,000 practice hours in 3 years; the 'examination' lane demands none, and with no exam enforced it's the same paperwork minus the hours form. Newly licensed and part-time vets want 'by Examination.'
- The board's own licensing page quotes fees from two dead schedules ($95 and $100); the rule and the application say $75. Budget to the rule.
- The relief permit only covers substituting for an absent or incapacitated Maine vet at a named location, and its rule text walls out foreign-educated (ECFVG/PAVE) relief applicants.
- Any disciplinary history can send the file to a quarterly board meeting, up to about 3 months.
After you are licensed
- Renew $75 every September 30. CE is 24 hours per 2-year cycle certified at even-year renewals; online courses must be proctored AND RACE-approved, so a pure on-demand library is technically noncompliant.
- Prescribing benzos or opioids adds an e-prescribing mandate, a database check before dispensing, and 1 CE hour per cycle.
- Vets aged 70 plus pay $10 a year. And the telehealth rules the legislature ordered in 2021 still don't exist; the relationship needs hands-on care.
Official links for Maine
Board. Maine State Board of Veterinary Medicine (OPOR) · Portal. licensing.web.maine.gov · Phone. (207) 624-8620
Keep going
- The veterinary planner, which builds a plan across several states at once.
- What transfers when you move a veterinary license, covering NAVLE, VAULT and DEA.
- All three professions we cover.
Every other jurisdiction
Alabama · Alaska · Arizona · Arkansas · California · Colorado · Connecticut · Delaware · District of Columbia · Florida · Georgia · Hawaii · Idaho · Illinois · Indiana · Iowa · Kansas · Kentucky · Louisiana · Maryland · Massachusetts · Michigan · Minnesota · Mississippi · Missouri · Montana · Nebraska · Nevada · New Hampshire · New Jersey · New Mexico · New York · North Carolina · North Dakota · Ohio · Oklahoma · Oregon · Pennsylvania · Rhode Island · South Carolina · South Dakota · Tennessee · Texas · Utah · Vermont · Virginia · Washington · West Virginia · Wisconsin · Wyoming